Polish prosecutors probe funeral bribery at Warsaw university hospitals

The Warsaw Regional Prosecutor's Office has opened a criminal investigation into possible bribery and receipt of material benefits by officials of the University Clinical Center of Warsaw (UCK WUM). The probe follows reports that a private funeral home was repeatedly offered to families of deceased patients while they were receiving death certificates in the hospitals' mortuaries, and that the firm leases a cold‑storage facility from the hospitals.

The hospitals – the Banacha clinical hospital, the Żwirki & Wigury pediatric hospital and the Dzieciątka Jezus hospital – have contracts that forbid advertising funeral services and any interference with families' choice of funeral provider. The investigation was triggered by an Onet article; prosecutors have not yet announced any charges.